Hookem has been accused of punching his colleague and putting him in hospital after an incident at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, but says it was nothing more than a scuffle and no punch was thrown.

Hookem said: "I am innocent. I never threw a punch. I never assaulted him. I will stand my corner.

"When I walked in he approached me to attack me. He came at me, I defended myself. There were no punches thrown, there was no face slapping, there were no digs, there was nothing.

Share this video

Watch Next

Read More

Top news stories today

"It's what people in Hull would term 'handbags at dawn'. A bit of a scuffle."

Woolfe will remain in hospital for a further 48-hours after being knocked out during the altercation but the 49-year-old has reached out a hand of friendship to Hookem, according to another UKIP MEP Nathan Gill.

Woolfe is currently in hospital in France and Gill says he will be kept in as a precaution despite scan results showing no clot in the brain.

UKIP have vowed to launch an investigation into the incident, which happened in the European Parliament building in Strasbourg.

Nigel Farage, interim leader of UKIP, criticised comments made by other members of the party and insists they will get to the bottom of what happened.

Steven Woolfe (left) and Mike Hookem (Photo: PA)

He said: "Other claims being made in the media by representatives of UKIP who were not even there at the time are extremely unhelpful."

But party chairman Paul Oakden has revealed that there were no witnesses to the incident, leaving it difficult to find out exactly what happened.

He said: "I have spoken to people who were there and everything I am being told at the moment would suggest that there were no witnesses. That is going to present a problem.

Read More

"I hope that we don't end up in a situation where we just have two members here disagreeing on the facts but with nobody else able to corroborate either.

"What I am hopeful of is that we have two members who accept that something happened yesterday that was unfortunate, regrettable, and they, as we all do, will want to move on from it and focus on electing our new leader."

Hookem has also insisted that he can't be suspended for the incident if Woolfe is allowed to continue without being suspended.